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The Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia 






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The Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia 



THE AMERICAN COMMITTEE FOR THE 
INDEPENDENCE OF ARMENIA 

ONE MADISON AVENUE 
NEW YORK 

JAMES W. GERARD, Chairman. 

CHARLES STEWART DAVISON, Vice-Chairman. 

WM. HENRY ROBERTS, D.D., LL.D., Secretary Gen'l. 



Charles Evans Hughes. 
William Jennings Bryan. 
Alton B. Parker. 
James Cardinal Gibbons. 
Rt. Rev. P. N. Rhinelander. 
Henry Cabot Lodge. 
John Sharp Williams. 
Charles S. Thomas. 
Lyman Abbott. 
Gov. Bartlett, N. H. 
James L. Ba,rton. 
Gov. Beeckman, R. L 
Alice Stone Blackwell. 
Charles J. Bonaparte. 
Gov. Boyle, Nev. 
Nicholas Murray Butler.- 
Gov. Campbell, Ariz. 
Gov. Carey. Wyo. 
Gov. Catts, Fla. 
Gov. Cooper, S. C. 
Gov. Cox, Ohio. 
Rt. Rev. J. H. Darlington. 
Cleveland H. Dodge. , 
Gov. Dors-ey, Ga. 
Charles W. Eliot. 
Rt. Rev. William F. Faber. 
Admiral Bradley A. Fiske. 
Lindley M. Garrison. 
Martin H. Glynn. 
Samuel Gompers. 
Madison Grant. 
Gov. Harding, Iowa. 
Gov. Harrington. Md. 
Albert Bushnell Hart. 
Sara Duryea Hazen. 



Myron T. Herrick. 

John Grier Hibben. 

Gov. Holcomb, Conn 

Hamilton Holt. 

George A. Hurd. 

Richard M. Hurd. 

Henry W. Jessup. 

Robert Ellis Jones. 

Gov. Larrazolo, N. Mex. 

Gov. Lister, Wash. 

Edward C. Little. 

Julian W. Mack. 

Norman E. Mack. 

William T. Manning. 

Elizabeth Marbury. 

Rt. Rev. Wm. H. Moreland. 

Gov. Norbeck, S. Dak. 

Frederic C. Penfield. 

George Haven Putnam. 

Gov. Robertson, Okla. 

Jacob G- Schurman. 

Gov. Smith, N. Y. 

Gov. Sproul, Pa. 

Oscar S. Straus. 

Rt. Rev. A. C. Thompson. 

Gov. Townsend, Jr., Del. 

Rt. Rev. B. D. Tucker. 

Rt. Rev.- Wm. W. Webb. 

Benjamin Ide Wheeler. 

Everett P. Wheeler. 

Rt. Rev. J. R. Winchester. 

Stephen S. Wise. 

Gov. Withj^combe, Ore. 

Gov Yager, Porto Rico 



^, df D. 



The Armenian Kingdom of Cilieia"^ 

BY VAHAN M. KURKJIAN 

On the 1 0th day of November, 19 18, a French squadron 
entered and occupied the port of Alexandretta. The event 
was joyfully hailed by the Armenians throughout the world 
as the realization of a dream five centuries old. 

The port of Alexandretta was within the boundaries of 
the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia. After having been lost, 
for a short period, to the Mameluke Sultans of Egypt, it was 
recovered by King Constantine II in 1347, with the assist- 
ance of the Knights Hospitallers. The Egyptian armies re- 
appeared a quarter of a century later, swept the whole coun- 
try, destroyed the last stronghold of Christianit}^ in the East, 
and carried away the King, Eeon V, to Egypt. Released 
from his captivity after eight years, the unfortunate prince 
went to Europe, with the intention of enlisting the sympa- 
thies of the Christian world. He was accorded a hearty wel- 
come in the court of Charles VI of France, and a few years 
afterwards was delegated by Charles to England, as a mes- 
senger of peace. The Hundred Years' war was then being 
waged, and the Armenian King cherished the hope of bring- 
ing about a cessation of hostilities between these two greatest 
powers of Europe, and, eventually, of securing their help 
for the deliverance of his enslaved fellow-countrymen and 
the restoration of his throne. In a pathetic address' Leon 
depicted before Richard II and his Parliament at Westmin- 

*Northern Cilicia became the first Asian home of the Arme- 
nians, after they left their original habitat in Thrace, Southeastern 
Europe, about 1300 years B. C. Cilicia becafne the last stronghold 
of Armenian Independence, from 1080 to 1375, when it was known 
as the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia, or the Kingdom of Lesser 
Armenia. Cilicia has an area of about 18,000 square miles, and 
includes the major portion of the Province of Adana, and about 
6,900 square miles in the Northwestern corner of the Province of 
Aleppo. Its Mediterranean Coast extends from a point West of 
Selefkeh to a point East of Alexandretta. 



ster the distressing picture of the Christians of the East, and 
concluded as follows: "The hostility between England and 
France has continued too long. Both should be urged to be 
contented with their vast dominions and put an end to this 
struggle, so that they may be able to drive away the enemies 
of Christ, and to break the yoke of the Christians of the East, 
who are daily awaiting your assistance, O, illustrious 
princes !" 

The address made a profound impression upon the aug- 
ust assembly, and the King consented to the postponement 
of hostile operations as requested by his "cousin," the King 
of Armenia — "nostre cousyn le roy d'Armenye." But, un- 
fortunately, the fire of mutual hatred was too intense to be 
extinguished so quickly; no agreement on peace prelimina- 
ries could be reached, and Leon, disappointed in his labors 
and expectations, returned to Paris, there to descend into 
his grave on the 29th of November, 1393. 

The last Armenian King passed away, but the Armenian 
nation has ever since clung tenaciously to the hope that the 
Christian powers of Europe, and especially England and 
France, would at last come to their rescue. It is only natu- 
ral, therefore, that the heart of every Armenian should be 
thrilled by the news of the redemption of the ancient port of 
Armenia, through the Anglo-French Alliance. 

The term "Armenia" is generally applied to the region 
about the Ararat mountains and the upper valleys of the 
Euphrates and the Tigris, but historically, politically and 
ethnographically it comprises an area which stretches to the 
western Taurus chains and to the northeastern shores of the 
Mediterranean ; and it is a matter of fundamental justice and 
of a vital importance to the cause of civilization that this part 
of the Mediterranean coastland should be included and in- 
corporated in the new Armenian State. 

The two sections of Southeastern Asia Minor, respec- 
tively known in the Fourth Century as Cilicia and Euphra- 
tensis, and colonized by Armenians long ago, became, on 
the decline of Byzantine influence, after the advent of the 
Saracens, dominant Armenian centers.* It is interesting to 

*Arab historians say that the Armenians of the beautiful city 
of Halal transferred their residence to Sis in 809. According to 
native historians fifty Armenian chiefs immigrated to Cilicia from 
Sassoun in 900. 



know in this same connection that the northern slopes of the 
Taurus range, the territory adjoining Cihcia and designated 
in the geography of Moses of Khoren as the First Armenia 
(Arachin Haik) was an original seat from which the Arme- 
nians proceeded towards Ararat in their eastward movement 
from Thrace and Hellespontes about looo years before 
Christ. 

After the short-lived Empire of Tigranes the Great, who 
had occupied the territory in 69 B. C, Cilician ports became 
more and more freely accessible to the Armenians. Most sig- 
nificant is the allusion to the northeastern corner of the 
Mediterranean as the "Armenian Gulf" (Sinus Armenicus) 
by Ammianus Marcellus, the Latin historian of the Fourth 
Century. It was in the second half of the same century that 
St. John the Chrysostom, writing from his place of exile at 
Cocussus, the present village of Goksun between Hajin and 
Zeitoun, expressed gratitude for the kindness extended to 
him by the Armenian population of the locality and by the 
Armenian nobleman, Dioscorus. Bishop Melitus of Antioch, 
whose pupil Chrysostom had been, was himself an Armenian. 
According to Theodoret, who lived in the Fifth Century, the 
city of Cocussus was in Armenia. The Armenians of those 
parts had grown so numerous in the Sixth Century that 
Catholicus Christopher took special care to warn them 
against the teachings of Nestorius. During the Eleventh 
Century almost the whole province was governed by Arme- 
nian functionaries or feudal lords; such as General Hacha- 
dour at Issaurian-Antioch, Oshin at Lambron, Ablgarib at 
Tarsus, Halgam on the western coastlands, PazoUni in the 
highlands, Tatoul at Marash, etc. More extensive and al- 
most independent was the land of Cogh Vassil, the Covasilio 
of the Western chroniclers, comprising the whole territory 
between the Amanus mountains and the Euphrates— Kessun, 
Husnimansour, Raban, Telbashar, Aintab, etc. Most of 
these domains were soon assimilated in the Armenian princi- 
pality of Cilicia, which was founded by Roupen in 1080, just 
35 years after the fall of the Kingdom of Ani, in Armenia 
Major. Constantine, successor of Roupen, and other Arme- 
nian chiefs extended a hearty welcome to the first Crusaders 
on their way to the Holy Land in 1098, helped them with 
supplies and co-operated with them in their fight against the 
Moslems. This loyalty to the Christians of the West, zeal- 
ously maintained by the succeeding rulers of the Armenian 



Principality, was finally rewarded by the Emperor Henry 
IV, with the bestowal of the kingly title and crown upon the 
Prince Leon II (King Leon I), 1199. Alexis Angelus, the 
Byzantine emperor, had anticipated him by conferring king- 
ship upon Leon in 1 196. 

This Leon, the Magnificent, is a great figure in Arme- 
nian history. An able soldier and tactful diplomat, he greatly 
extended the boundaries and the economic and political 
strength of the Armenian State. His name kept the sur- 
rounding Moslem nations at a respectful distance. He defied 
even the great Saladin. Leon was a personal friend of 
Richard the Lion-Hearted, and an -ally in his campaign 
against Kyr-Isaac at, Cyprus. A few months after he had 
acted as groomsman at Richard's marriage with the Princess 
Berengaria, he took part in the siege of Acre, on the Syrian 
coast, conducted by the English and French forces in 191 1. 
In an old German poem, dedicated to the glories of the lead- 
ers of this campaign, we read : 

Kunic Leon von Ubia (Roubinian?) 
Ouch der von Armenia. 

Cilician Armenia made great strides in the paths of 
commerce, trade and agriculture under Leon's rule. The 
population of the country, originally composed of Armenians, 
Greeks and Syrians, was rapidly increased in numbers not 
only by Armenians who hailed, from the various parts of the 
Near East, and who came to live under the shelter of their 
national flag, but also by European colonists of Syria and 
Palestine, whose position had become precarious on account 
of the fall of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem in 1 187. Even 
Turkish chieftains declared allegiance to the Armenian King 
in whose justice and generosity they placed perfect confi- 
dence.* The progress and proper ity of the country were 
greatly enhanced by the special privileges granted by Leon to 
the mercantile nations of Southern Europe by which they 



*We have the testimony of Ibn-el-Bibi, the historian of the 
Turkish Seljuk dynasty, that Sultan Keykaous of Cesarea, on one 
occasion promised to Leon by oath and in writing "never again to 
attack the Armenian forts, and also to send a provision of 13,000 
measures (medd) of wheat to Armenistan (Armenia)." 



were induced and encouraged to send agents and colonists 
to the Armenian State for financial, commercial and indus- 
trial enterprises. The political organization, the various 
departments of administration and the royal court were mod- 
eled after those of Europe ; intermarriage between Armenian 
and European princely houses were frequent, and institu- 
tions of learning under the native clergy and Latin religious 
orders were established in many localities.* As a consequence 
of these activities, connections, and reforms,. and because of 
its rich natural resources, the country soon flourished "para- 
dise-like," to use the expression of Vahram, a contemporary 
poet-historian. Sis, the capital, was embellished with pal- 
aces, public and private buildings, hospitals and orchards, f 
Magnificent churches were erected for' the different nation- 
alities and creeds of the city — for the Armenians, Greeks, 
Franks, Genoese, Venetians, Georgians and Syrians. Canon 
'Willebrand o'f Oldenbourg, who visited Sis in 121 1, describes 
it as "the residence of innumerable and wealthy inhabitants." 
The hymnology of the Roman Catholic Church refers to this 
city -as "Sis Christianorum." 

Most wonderful was the part played in -the life of the 
little kingdom, by the port of Ayas. Situated a few miles 
west of the modern town of Youmurtalik, on the western 
shores of the Armenian Gulf almost facing Alexandretta, 
Ayas became a thriving emporium, where were exchanged 
the wares and merchandise of the Wst and the East. There 
was a time lasting about a hundred years, w^hen all the East- 
ern and Southern Mediterranean coast was under Moslem 
domination, and, therefore, dreaded or tabooed by European 
vessels. Then the overland routes of the Asiatic world could 



^Almost all the queens of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem 
were Armenians. Arta, the daughter of Thoros I, married Bau- 
douin I, the first king of Jerusalem. Marcile, the daughter of Prince 
Gabriel of Malatia, married Baudouin de Bourg. Melissanth, their 
eldest daughter, became the Queen-Regent of her son Baudouin III. 
Rita, the daughter of Leon I, married Jean de Brienne, the titular 
King of Jerusalem. On the other hand, many of the Armenian 
kings had married European princesses. 

f Queen Zabelle used to attend the sick in the hospital founded 
by herself in 1214. 



be reached only through the safe haven of Ay as — the 'Tor- 
tus Ayacii, Domini Regis Ermenie."* 

Says Marco Polo, the Venetian traveler, who started 
from Ayas in 1271 for his journey to China : 

"The Armenians have a city on the sea, which is called 
Layas, where a great trade is carried on. Because, you must 
kndw, all sorts of spices, silken and gold-braided goods and 
other precious wares are brought from the interior to this 
city. The merchants of Venice and Genoa and other coun- 
tries come to this place to sell and to buy goods. And who- 
ever wishes to travel to the East, be he merchant or- other- 
wise, sets out from this city of Layas." 

Previously, in 1269, Marco Polo's uncle had sailed from 
Ayas to Acre on an Armenian vessel: 

The immense importance which Ayas attained as a com- 
mercial and political base of operation was looked upon as 
a peril by the Moslem' nations of the period, and especially 
by the Sultans of Egypt ; they determined to capture that 
city, to destroy the Armenian kingdom, and thereby to wipe 
out all Christian influence in the East.f 

It is impossible to read without the deepest emotion, 
the annals of the bitter struggle waged by the Armenians, 

*Ayas was favored also by its geographical position. The 
Armenian Gulf, about forty-five miles long and about twenty-five 
miles wide, is protected against the winds by the encircling moun- 
tains. For many years past, this gulf has served as a winter shelter 
to the British Squadron of the Eastern Mediterranean. 

Ayas is mentioned as Leyyes in the "Canterbury Tales" of 
Chaucer. 

The Treasury of the kingdom received enormous sums of 
money from duties imposed upon the importations and exporta- 
tions. Otherwise it would have been impossible to carry on the 
incessant wars against the enemies, and to reconstruct the country 
after so many incursions. The Custom House of Ayas was called 
"Pajdoun" by Armenians or "Pasidonium" by Europeans. 

f Merchants came to Ayas from the following cities and coun- 
tries : Venice, Genoa, Pisa, Pavia, Mantua, Livorno, Florence, 
Spain, Catalonia, Sicily, Barcelona, Saragossa, Marseilles. Prov- 
ence, Nimes, Narbonne, Montpellier, Constantinople, Trebizond, 
Egypt, Syria. 

There are documents concerning commercial relations between 
Flemish countries and Armenia. 

Armenian merchants were established in Europe, chiefly in 
Italy and France. Thirty-six Italian cities had Armenian centers 
or hostelries (Hay-doun). 

8 



from the second half of the Thirteenth Century to the end 
of the Fourteenth, against the Eg}^ptian armies and the Sel- 
juk and Turkoman hordes. The nations of the West dis- 
played much concern about Armenia; the Roman See was 
particularly solicitous about her fate; men like Marino 
Sanuto — the Italian diplomat and traveler — sounded the 
alarm in her behalf, but no practical step was taken beyond 
the expressions of sympathy, which, in fact, were productive 
of more harm than good. The situation may be best real- 
ized by the following lines from Rainaldi : "While these peo- 
ples (the Europeans) were fighting with the heathen by 
wishes and writings only, they (the Egyptians) were destroy- 
ing Armenia by sword and fire; while the King of France 
(Philip of Valois) was thundering his threats in the West, 
and while preachers proclaimed the rewards of the Crusader, 
the infidels on the other side, irritated by reports of enormous 
preparations, were falling upon the Christians with all their 
might." 

The Armenians were left to themselves, indeed, but 
they .did not lose heart. Their warriors bravel}^ faced terri- 
ble odds and their leaders steered the bark of State with great 
sagacity. Students of the history of the Crusaders give 
credit to Armenian diplomacy for securing the good-will of 
the Tartar Emperors of the age. The Tartars emerging 
from Central Asia and spreading toward the West, bitterly 
contested with the Sultans of Egypt the supremacy in the 
Near East, and the custody of Mediterranean ports. The 
Christian powers heartily welcomed the appearance of the 
Tartars, as a rival of their own formidable foe, saw in him 
a prospective ally, and endeavored to cultivate friendly rela- 
tions with him. This disposition met a ready response from 
the Tartar Khans, who, though Buddhists by faith, werejiot 
really interested in religion, but were shrewd enough to pre- 
tend to an inclination toward Christianity. Accordingly 
their Generals occasionally attended Christian ceremonies, 
permitted Christian clergy to conduct services for the Chris- 
tian soldiers of their army, and themselves took Christian 
women in marriage. The missionaries of Islam were mere 
successful, however, and the Tartars finally adopted the reli- 
gion of Mohammed to the bitter disappointment of the Euro- 
peans and Armenians. But even then the Khans tried to win 
the nations of the West to their side. Speaking of Ghazan, 



who had embraced the Moslem faith, Michaud, the well- 
known historian, says : ' 

"It is_ surprising- indeed to see that a Mongol Emperor 
should strive to fan the crusading spirit among the princes 
oi the Christian world. It is surprising to see that barba- 
rians, from the banks of the Jaxardes and the Oxus rivers, 
should stand on Golgotha and Zion, awaiting for the troops 
of France, Germany and Italy to come to fight the enemies 
of Christianity." 

That, Ghazan Khan, thought converted to Islam, was 
really prompted by political motives only, may be proved by 
the following lines addressed to him by Sultan Nassir of 
Egypt: 

"The Apostle of God has said that he is a Moslem whose 
hands and tongue never harm others. Thou hast harshly 
treated Moslem prisoners and delivered them to the Tacavor"^ 
and to the Armenians. This is against the spirit of charity,, 
which thou claimest to possess." 

It is evident that the Armenians were deeply interested 
in the creation of an entente between the Tartars and the 
European powers, and that they earnestly strove to achieve 
that end.f Simpad, the Constable or Commander-in-chief 
of Armenia, and later King Hethoum I himself, personally 
repaired to the court of Mangou Khan with the object of 
securing his friendship for the Armenians, and of laying 
the foundation of a future alliance between the Tartars and 
Europeans.! The policy of Hethoum and his successors, 

^Tacavor means King in the Armenian language. The refer- 
ence here is to King Hethoum II, who had entered Damascus and 
Jerusalem as an ally of Ghazan in 1300. 

f Simon, an Assyrian priest, came to Sis in 1243, as an envoy 
from the Khap of the Tartars. 

Abagha Khan, writing to European powers in 1269, requested 
them to concentrate their forces in Sis. 

I We have a precious document in the letter written by Simpad 
to his sister, the consort of the King of Cyprus, from Samarcand, 
dated Feb. 6th, 1248. The letter is addressed as follows : "A tres 
haut et puissant homme Monseigneur Henry, par la grace de Die 
roy de Chipre, et a sa chiere suer Emmeline la royne, et a noble 
liomme Jehan de Hibelin son frere, li Connoitables de Ermenie 
salut et amour." 

Half a century later, in 1301, Hethoum of Gorigos, the Monk- 
Prince, personally offered to the Pope, Clement V, a book written 
by himself about Tartary, under the following title : "Le livre de 
la fleur des histoires de la terre d'Orient. Le quel livre Hayton 
Seigneur de Core, cousin germain du roy de Armenie compilla." 

10 



though It greatly helped in the protection of the Christians 
of Asia and the defense of the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia, 
was not crowned with an enduring success. After a series 
of victorious campaigns in Syria and Palestine, in which the 
Armenian troops under Leon II and Hethoum II took part 
(1277 and 1300), the Mongol-Tartars gradually declined in 
power and lost their interest in Armenians. The European 
nations on the other hand, always divided by mutual jealou- 
sies and more mindful of their own, selfish ends than of their 
•moral obligations, did practically nothing in response to the 
distressing cries of Armehia. And while the churches and 
the monastries of this unhappy land were given over to fire 
and destruction, and while Christian blood was flowing in 
torrents, Latin missionaries were eagerly trying to purge the 
Armenian Church of heretical doctrines and teachings. A 
fund of 30,000 florins ($72,000) sent by Pope John X^II in 
1334, foi" the reconstruction of Ayas, after a destructive 
attack by the Egyptians, was held back by the Papal Legate, 
pending the settlement of certain theological controversies. 
The Armenians might, even at that late hour, have in- 
sured the safety of their country had they consented to break 
with the Western world, and to "cease sending envoys or 
letters to the Roman Pontif ," as was stipulated in a treaty 
forced upon Leon IV by Sultan Nassir.* But that was an 



*Baghdin of Nigher and Abbot Thoros of Trazarg, the special 
envoys from King Oshin, were received by King Edward I of Eng- 
land in 1317. 

Bishop Hagop of Gaban and his interpreter Baron Krikor were 
sent to Europe at a later date to plead the cause of Armenia. 

The kings of France, Navarre, Aragon and Bohemia had prom- 
ised in 1333 to join in an expedition to the East to help Armenia 
against the Moslems. 

Edward III of England wrote to Leon IV in 1342, expressing 
his sympathy and promising his aid. 

The following is part of the decree of Philip directing his 
Treasurers to send to Armenia the sum of 10,000 Florins for relief 
work. This sum was to be sent in three yearly installments. 

"Philippes par la grace de Dieu, roy de France, a nos ames et 
feaus_ les gens de nos Comptes et nos Tresoriers a Paris, salut et 
dilictiom. Pour ce que nostre tres chier cousin le Roy d'Armenie 
npus a signifie que les Sarasins de par de la le guerroyoient efTor- 
ciement, nous voulous le faire aide, pour ce qu'il puisse raieux 
garder ses chastioux et son pays, et resister aus dis Sarasins si 
que le diet pays d'Armenie, qui est pays convenable, si comme Ton 
dit, a recevoir nous et nos gens, si nous y transporterons pour le 

11 



impossibility. Whatever the exigencies of their geographi- 
cal position and their political isolation may have been the 
Armenians cherished an indomitable loyalty to Christian 
ideals and traditions; so they kept up the fight until, bled 
white and utterly exhausted, they fell on the field of honor. 
That this last episode in the story of independent Arme- 
nia is full of romance is admitted by those who have studied 
its history. Its existence, not more than 300 years, although 
not much longer than that of some of its contemporary 
neighboring States, was equalled only by the Island Kingdom' 
of Cyprus.* But comparatively short though its duration 
was, the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia, this Christian islet 
in a stormy Moslem ocean was the scene of many an act of 
valor and chivalry. The crisis was reached during the sec- 
ond half of the Fourteenth Century, when all vestiges of 
European dominion in the Levant had vanished by the fall, 
one after another, of Acre, Tyre and Tripoli before the 
mighty power of Sultan Ashraf Kalavoun. The Armenians 
had, therefore, to face the situation single-handed. And they 
did full justice to their reputation as good soldiers. They 
performed in that hour of sacrifice many supremely heroic 
exploits, thereby prolonging their national independence. 
The Armenian garrison of Ayas, 600 strong, twice repulsed 
the army of Sultan Nassir. On another occasion 200 Arme- 
nian warriors, in charge of the defence of a defile in the 
Amanus, entrapped 18,000 Moslem cavalrymen and put 6,000 
of them out of action. Those were the days of Libarid, 
whose name spread terror among the marauding Turks and 
Turkomans, and of Zarmantoukht, the heroine, who with her 
own hands slew two Turkish generals : Omar in the plains 
of Odana and Oli in the plains of Sis. 



Saint Voyage d'Outremer, duquel faire Dieu aydant, nous avons 
grant devotion et desir, soit retenu et ne puisse estre print ou greve 
par les Saracins mescreants ; avons donne au dit Roy et donnons de 
grace especiale par des Lettres dize mille florins d'or de Florence, 
pour estre convertis. en la garde de diets chastiaux et pays. . ." 
*The following list shows the duration of the States : 
The Frankish Principality of Edessa 46 years ; The Latin King- 
dom of Jerusalem 88 years ; The Principality of Tripoli of Syria 180 
3'ears; The Principality of Antioch 169 years; The Principality of 
Accon or Acre 187 years; The Seljuk Sultanate of Roum 213 years; 
The Latin Empire of Constantinople 57 years; The Greek Empire 
of Trebizond 258 year,s ; The Kingdom of Cyprus 295 years. 

12 



I will not go into further detail concerning the services 
rendered by the Armenians to the cause of Christian civiliza- 
tion, their unflinching loyalty to the Western Powers, and 
their inflexible determination to defend, to their last breath, 
the independence of their country. The conclusion to be de- 
rived from the manifold and touching events of that period 
has been thus summed up by Victor Langlois : "Numrous are 
those events, those brilliant traditions," he writes, "and how- 
ever lamely we may follow the course of Armenia's victories 
and progress ; however hastily we may examine the organiza- 
tion of her aristocracy and clergy ; however slightly we may 
study her relations with the Western Nations, and the wars 
which she waged against the Moslems, still shall we see that 
. . . .the historical documents of this country contain the 
memories of a glorious past." 

Yet it is not "the glorious past" alone which gives the 
Armenians the strongest proof of their title to this region. 
The Armenians have continued to constitute, ever since the 
overthrow of their Kingdom of Sis, the most vital element of 
their invaded territory. The Egyptian conquest was neither 
complete nor lasting. The Western coastland was held for 
almost another century by the Venetians and in the uplands 
there arose a number of independent communities. The 
Ottoman Turks entered Cilicia in 1487 under Sultan Baya- 
zid, but they could not consolidate their domination; their 
authority was hotly contested by the Ramazans, the Zulka- 
drians, the Karamans, and the Egyptians. The Ottoman 
dominion in this province was still unsettled as late as the 
middle of the Nineteenth century. One Dada Bey was hold- 
ing Payas, north of Alexandretta, in 1825; Ibrahim Pasha 
of Egypt was in possession of Adana in 1840; Sarkhand 
Oglou ruled between Sis and Marash in 1859, and Kozan 
Oglou was supreme until 1866. 

Last but not least of the free centers of Cilicia was that 
of the Armenian district of Zeitoun, whose semi-autonomous 
rights were guaranteed by the Six Powers, after its victory 
over the Turkish troops in 1895. A certain degree of free- 
dom was enjoyed also by the Armenians of the Black Moun- 
tains, known by the Turks as the Ghiavour Dagh — the 
Infidels' Mountains. 

Notwithstanding the turbulent condition of the country 
and the periodical outbursts of Moslem fanaticism, the 
Armenians maintained their predominance in the Eastern 

13 



part of Cilicia, their number there being not less than 
200,000. In CiHcia as a whole the Moslems form a majority 
of the population, but they represent a variety of races, all 
alien to one another — Turkoman, Turk, Kurd, Tcherkess, 
Arab, Persian, etc. The Turkomans, which constitute the 
largest percentage of the Moslem inhabitants, are mostly 
nomadic tribes, such as the Varshaks, Yuruks and the 
Af shars. The tribes of Bozan and Hayoug are of Armenian 
ancestry. There are a considerable number of ostensibly 
Turkish families who b^ar Armenian names, and who are the 
result of forcible conversion to Mohammedanism. Many 
Armenian words used in the domestic life of the Turks sug- 
gest the same situation. It is a frequent practice for Turkish 
women to bring their sick children to the Armenian church to 
have the gospel read over them for their recovery; and also 
to send offerings to the church and to invoke the prayers of 
the congregation in hours of distress. , • 

Not content with deporting and slaughtering the Arme- 
nians in these later years, the criminal gavernment of Turkey 
has attempted also to wipe all evidence of Armenian activi- 
ties in the past. They have demolished the Patriarchal 
throne, and have pillaged the treasures of the Monastery of 
Sis, which stands on the site of the royal palace; they have 
desecrated the tombs of the Armenian kings and queens ; 
they have pulled down the remains of old princely mansions 
and stations. But although the Turks were able to obliterate 
many priceless monuments of the past ages, the memories of 
what Gustave Schulumberger calls the "glorious Christian 
kingdom of Lesser Armenia" are imperishable. There, still 
towering beyond the reach of the destroying Turk, their 
battle-scarred flanks marked with Armenian inscriptions, are 
many castles and fortresses. There, reduced to ruins or con- 
verted into Moslem mosques, are picturesque churches, under 
the vaults of which preachers (like Nerses of Lambron, the 
saintly Archbishop of Tarsus' held cosmopolitan congrega- 
tions spell-bound with the power of their oratory. There 
we have monasteries, perched on the slopes, or hidden in the 
fastnesses of the Taurus and Amarius ranges, where the 
Armenian monk piously prayed for the success of the Chris- 
tian armies, and assiduously copied the Bible or the works of 
the Ancient Fathers. And not only these, but included in 
numismatistic collections, are a variety of coins in silver 
and in gold, bearing the names of Armenian kings and 

14 



queens; and preserved in European museums and archives, 
are the parchments of treaties and decrees emanating from 
the Court of Sis.* We have, finally, the testimony of the 
chroniclers of the Middle Ages to the effect that this terri- 
tory, once a center of Armenian life and energy, and always 
soaked with the blood of Armenian heroes or martyrs, was 
the Armenie of the European, the Armenokilikia of the 
Greek, the Bilad-el-Armen of the Arab, and the Armenistan 
of the Turk himself. .... 

'May we not hope that, as one of the crowning victories 
of the cause of just4ce, and as one of the most glorious re- 
sults of the coming Peace Congress, the Armenian flag will 
flutter once, more on the topmasts of Armenian vessels which 
shall sail forth from what was the Mare Armeniae'? 



*The figures and inscriptions on these coins vary. Some of 
them have the picture of the King, or a standing lion with a cross 
in his hand. On the reverse side, after the name of the king, are 
the words : "By the power of God, King." Or : "Cast in the city 
of Sis, to the Glory of God." 

A -silver coin bears the picture of King Hethoum I and. Queen 
Zabelle. The most common currency' was the Tacavorin which was 
called Tacorin or Taccolino by Europeans, and Tacvourieh by the 
Egyptians.- It was a silver piece, equivalent to about twelve cents 
in American monev. 



. 15 



Armenia 

(An editorial in the New York Times, February 16, 1919.) 

The suggestion frequently advanced in England— most 
recently by Viscount Bryce— that the United States should 
act as mandatory of the League of Nations for Armenia 
will, of course, conflict with the settled opinion of most Amer- 
icans that it would be better for us to keep out of those parts 
of the world where hitherto we have not been active. How- 
ever, a principle is sometimes best recognized by being dis- 
regarded ; and if this country should act under any mandate 
outside our own immediate neighborhood we should probably 
be as well satisfied to be in Armenia as anywhere. The 
whole matter, of course, must depend on the wish of the 
Armenians ; but Armenia would not call for very much effort 
on the part of her mandatory; her people are apparently 
capable of self-government, their commercial and industrial 
ability is well known. About all that Armenia's mandatory 
— if she required any at all — might have to do would be to 
furnish what the projected constitution of the League of 
Nations calls "administrative advice and assistance." 

But it may be doubted if Armenia, once guaranteed 
against a renewal of Turkish aggression, would need any 
mandatory at all. No higher tribute could be paid to the 
Armenians than the willingness of the present Greek Gov- 
ernment to have the Greeks of Pontus, geographically hard 
to include in the Greek State, attached to an independent 
Armenia. Armenian estimates would indicate that their 
race still consists of some three million people, after all the 
massacres; and of those who live in Constantinople, or else- 
where outside the contiguous Armenian territory till lately 
under the sovereignty of Russia, Persia, and Turkey, many 
will doubtless go back to help the nation rebuild its home. 
Inasmuch as the Armenians furnished many of the ablest 
administrators and statesmen of the Ottoman Empire, in 
view of the executive capacity which Armenians have dis- 
played in foreign countries where their abilities were given 

17 



free rein, it would be rash to say that Armenia is not even 
now capable of full self-government. "One thing is to be made 
secure — that there' is to he no Armenian irredenta, in so far 
as the overlapping of populations may make it possible. 
Armenia has earned the right to full national liberty. Ac- 
cording to the last Turkish statistics, nearly 30 per cent, of 
the Armenians of the empire, outside of Constantinople, 
lived in Cilicia, on the Mediterranean. Cilicia is zvithin the 
sphere of influence alloted to Prance by the treaties of 1916, 
but French economic interest could be guaranteed zvithout 
interfering with the political sovereignty of the Armenians 
in Arm^enian territory." 

The Christian Powers of the world are in duty bound to 
remember that most of the misfortunes which afflicted the 
Armenian people in the nineteenth century were due to the 
remissness of these very Powers, who time and time again 
were willing to accept Turkish promises of better administra- 
tion, and never took effective steps to enforce performance of 
these promises. The Armenians were mistreated chiefly be- 
cause they were Christians and held to their religion inflexi- 
bly, incidentally because they were economically superior to 
the Turks and dangerous to the Germans. A nation that has 
been sacrificed for the faith and the civilization of Europe 
should not again be betrayed, in whole or in part, by Europe 
and America. The present Turkish Government has lately 
begun prosecution of one or two officials in the evident hope 
of blaming the Armenian massacres on minor personages 
who can be sacrificed in place of the men higher up. Any 
real fixing of responsibility will go to persons very high up, 
in Constantinople and Berlin; and justice to Armenia in- 
cludes the punishment of guilt in the past as well as real and 
trustworthy guarantees for the future. Armenia is as much 
a moral test of the Peace Conference as is Belgium. 



18 



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